Iraq's most influential Shiite political leader called Friday for Sunni-Shiite unity as religious figures sought to calm passions and pull the nation from the brink of civil war after the bombing of a Shiite shrine two days ago and a wave of deadly reprisal attacks. The government, meanwhile, announced stepped-up security measures, including a ban on entering or leaving Baghdad and deployment of armed forces in tense areas. An extraordinary daytime curfew in Baghdad and three nearby provinces appeared to have blunted the wave of attacks on Sunni mosques that followed Wednesday's bombing, which destroyed the golden dome of the Shiite Askariya shrine in Samarra. Still, Iraqis feared the violence that killed about 130 people after the Samarra attack had pushed the country closer to sectarian civil war than at any time since the U.S.-led invasion nearly three years ago. ... http://abcnews.go.com

At least 51 people have been killed in a fire at a textile mill in Bangladesh, police say. More than 100 others were injured in the blaze in the south-eastern port city of Chittagong. Soldiers were brought in to take over rescue work from firefighters, after the fire reduced a three-storey building to rubble. At least 500 workers were inside the mill when the fire broke out. Officials are trying to establish the cause. The BBC's Waliur Rahman in Dhaka says the blaze has been described by officials as the country's worst ever factory fire. Most of the survivors had to jump from windows as the only exit from the factory was reportedly locked when the fire broke out, a fire department official, Rashidul Islam Majumder, told the BBC. No factory representatives were available for comment. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4745894.stm

Suicide bombers in explosives-laden cars attacked the world's largest oil processing facility Friday, but were prevented from breaking through the gates when guards opened fire on them, causing the vehicles to explode, officials said. The Saudi oil minister said the blast "did not affect operations" at the Abqaiq facility, denying an earlier report on Al-Arabiya television that the flow of oil was halted briefly after a pipeline was damaged. The facility "continued to operate normally. Export operations continued in full," the minister, Ali Naimi, said in a statement. The price of oil jumped by more than $1.20 on world markets as they heard of the attack. The April delivery price of Nymex sweet light crude, the U.S. benchmark, rose $1.26 to $61.80. The European benchmark, Brent crude, leaped $1.21 to $61.75 for April delivery. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1657907

In the bizarre realm of quantum mechanics--the physics theory that stumped even Albert Einstein--tiny things like electrons and packets of light often seem to be in two places at once, in total violation of common sense. Now a University of Illinois physics team has taken that principle and built something harder to fathom: a quantum-based computer that can be awake and asleep at the same time, and spit out answers even if its program is never triggered. It's plenty strange, but some experts say such real-world spinoffs of eerie quantum effects are growing so common that it's our understanding of "strange" that needs to change. "This is the way nature is," said Charles Bennett, an IBM researcher who dreamed up some of the new uses of quantum physics. "We should be learning how to get used to that." Quantum mechanics is the theory physicists use to understand events at the atomic level, which works far differently than the large-scale world that people inhabit. ...http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0602240107feb24,1,5661316.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

The United Arab Emirates firm set to take control of six US ports is to delay part of the deal after objections from leading US lawmakers. Dubai Ports World had been set to take over ports from New York to New Orleans by buying UK firm P&O. But some lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, warn the deal will make the US more vulnerable to terrorism. The White House has threatened to veto any law seeking to block the agreement, but said it could accept some delays. DP World's decision to delay the US part of the P&O takeover will be welcomed by the White House, the BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says. Even the threat of a presidential veto has failed to quell the chorus of opposition and at this point a cooling-off period is probably the best George W Bush could have hoped for, he adds. A White House spokesman had earlier said that although there might be flexibility over timing, the deal should go ahead. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4744086.stm

Two eminent Oxford scientists took a publicly defiant stand against Britain's often violent animal rights extremists on Friday, saying the intimidation which stops vital medical research had to end. "You have to be really passionate about this to put your head above the parapet and not many do," said Professor John Stein, a neurophysiologist. "The (animal rights groups) have had it all their own way. They have intimidated people, but the time has come to speak up and risk it. Who knows what the risk is?" he told the Guardian newspaper. Stein and his colleague, consultant neurosurgeon Professor Tipu Aziz, could be putting themselves at considerable danger. Britain's largest and oldest animal testing center, in Huntingdon, nearly collapsed in 2001 when frequent violent protests caused financiers to pull out. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1657843